British Cycling published a damning verdict on Shane Sutton in October but now the full findings have been leaked and show he was cleared of almost every allegation.
British Cycling upheld just one of Jess Varnish’s complaints against the federation's former technical director Shane Sutton, that of using sexist language, because he used the word ‘bitches’.
But all of the 25-year-old former track international’s other allegations, including that Sutton made remarks about her weight and told her to ‘go have a baby’ have not been upheld.
In October British Cycling released a statement saying its internal inquiry had concluded Sutton used “inappropriate and discriminatory language”.
However, there was no mention of what words or incident that finding related to.
And now the BBC has obtained correspondence which shows Sutton faced nine allegations from Varnish and that only one of them was upheld.
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The fact British Cycling chose to release a statement about Sutton in October based on the one allegation that had been upheld but making no mention of the other eight allegations or the fact he had been cleared on all eight, seems incredible.
And the bungling federation now faces challenges to the outcome of the process as well as possible legal action from both Sutton and Varnish.
Indeed, reacting to the latest twist, Varnish’s lawyer Simon Fenton said British Cycling had “managed to satisfy neither Jess nor Shane Sutton and to embarrass themselves in the process”.
Varnish, left, with Victoria Pendleton after winning the team sprint gold at the UCI World Cup in 2012 in world record time.
When the initial outcome of the inquiry was released in October, British Cycling said it had “upheld an allegation made by Jess Varnish that former technical director Shane Sutton had used inappropriate and discriminatory language".
And the board of British Cycling said at the time it wanted to “put on record its sincere regret that this happened".
Varnish welcomed the verdict and the statement and said she was relieved. Sutton insisted he was innocent, protesting that he had simply never used the terms Varnish claimed.
Now that the full outcome, on all nine allegations, has emerged Sutton is likely to take legal action over the reputational damage caused to him by British Cycling’s initial statement.
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And Varnish has told the BBC she now wants the findings examined more closely and wants a copy of the report compiled at the end of the internal inquiry.
Correspondence obtained by the BBC containing a summary of the findings of British Cycling’s internal inquiry breaks the allegations down under two headings; discriminatory conduct and bullying.
The discriminatory conduct heading contains seven allegations; use of the term bitches, use of the word ‘Sheilas’, swearing and use of the ‘c word’, saying ‘get on with having a baby’, branding women as difficult, failing to distribute equipment equally among male and female riders and ‘discrimination/careers after the Olympic podium programme’.
Of those, only the allegation of using the term ‘bitches’ was upheld.
In the bullying section there were two allegations; commenting on rider body weight and that terminating Varnish from the Olympic programme constituted bullying. Neither of those complaints was upheld.
Of 9 allegations Varnish made against Sutton, only 1 was upheld; that he used the term "bitches". 8 others rejected pic.twitter.com/EEHQpHo9pm
— Dan Roan (@danroan) December 7, 2016
When the BBC contacted Varnish and disclosed the contents of the letter containing the summary of the inquiry findings, she said she was “shocked and upset” and had already instructed her lawyer to appeal.
"Having provided substantial evidence to back up my complaints, to now learn that the majority were not upheld is heartbreaking,” she told the BBC. “I know what was said, and I know I've told the truth.
"I have requested from British Cycling the full investigation report to understand why the weight of evidence provided by me and others wasn't sufficient for the board to uphold my complaints."
Sutton declined to comment and Varnish’s lawyer was critical of the report from the inquiry emerging in the public domain “in dribs and drabs”.
Varnish (25) claimed she was dropped from the Olympic programme before Rio for criticising the Team GB set-up and refuted suggestions by Sutton she had lost her place on performance grounds.
She then said when she went to British Cycling’s track base at the Manchester Velodrome to collect her personal items after being told her contract was not being extended, she asked to see the performance data which resulted in her being let go.
And it was at that point that she alleges Sutton told her to “go and have a baby”. She also says he once made inappropriate comments about her body.
“I saw Shane and Iain (Dyer, head coach) and asked if I could have some of the information,” she said of requesting the performance data in Manchester.
“They couldn’t give it to me and said I’d been on the programme too long, that I was too old at the age of 25. Shane said that I should just move on and go and have a baby.”
When she initially spoke out in the spring other riders emerged to support her, though many top name riders said they had never had an issue with Sutton or his training and motivation methods.
The episode overshadowed the British team's preparations for Rio and saw Sutton step down shortly after the allegations emerged.
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